Two Cork nuns contemplate new home as monastery closes after 340 years

 Carmelite Nuns, Sr. Magdalene Dinneen, Sr Catherina Murphy, Sr Cynthia Galang, Sr Teresa Keohane, and Sr Cora Marie Lawler, who are moving out of St Joseph's Monastery, Loughrea, Co Galway, which is closing after 340 years of uninterrupted prayer and service.

When Sister Teresa Keohane first heard about Covid-19, she says she felt no fear — partly because she had many other things on her mind.

The Carmelite sister from Kinsale, Co Cork, is moving out of her monastery in Loughrea, Co Galway, which is closing after 340 years.

St Joseph’s monastery, dating back to 1680, is regarded as the founding house of the Carmelite order in Ireland.

However, like many religious communities, the contemplative order has been challenged to attract new vocations.

As a result, the extensive property has been put up for sale, and the five remaining nuns will relocate to other communities at the end of November.

The actual monastery building in Loughrea dates from 1829, but the order first set up near St Brigid’s well in the town in the late 17th century.

The Georgian building is listed on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. It is surrounded by seven acres which are expected to be sold for housing.

“Three of us are moving to a community in New Ross, Co Wexford, while one sister is returning to her home in the Philippines,” Sr Teresa, who is in her early 80s, said.

“My colleague from Co Cork, Sr Magdalene Dineen from Clonakilty, is moving to Malahide in Dublin,” she said.

Sr Teresa says the Covid-19 pandemic has had little impact on life in an enclosed order dedicated to prayer.

“My prayers are my vaccine,” she says, pointing out that she spent 12 years with a mission in northern Nigeria where there was no electricity and no water source for a time —  and “many different types of snake”.

“I became a nun at the age of 19, in the Mercy Order, after two years working abroad in childcare in Boston, USA,” she says.

She trained in midwifery at University Hospital Galway, where she was based for many years, before applying to transfer to the Carmelite order.

“It took me some time to get the transfer approved, but I wrote to the Pope and got a reply by return post,” she says.

She has been based in the monastery in Loughrea for 32 years.

The Last Mass: Fr Micheal MacLaifeartaigh of Carmelite Abbey, Most Rev Michael Duignan, Bishop of Clonfert, Msgr Cathal Geraghty PP, and Bishop Emeritus Dr John Kirby attending the last mass held in St Joseph’s Monastery for the Carmelite Nuns, Sr Magdalene Dinneen, Sr Catherina Murphy, Sr Cynthia Galang, Sr Teresa Keohane, and Sr Cora Marie Lawler of St Joseph's Monastery. 

Last Saturday,  Sr Teresa and Sr Magdalene joined  Sr Cynthia Galang from the Philippines, Sr Catherina Murphy from Clonmel, Co Tipperary and Sr Cora Marie Lawlor from Navan, Co Meath in a Mass of Thanksgiving at Loughrea Cathedral for their presence and ministry in the Clonfert diocese.

In attendance at the Mass were Bishop of Confert Michael Duignan, and his predecessor Dr John Kirby.

At the mass, a plaque was unveiled which marks the Carmelite presence in Loughrea —  listing the community’s locations which began “near St Brigid’s well” in the 1700s, and moved to Main Street, to Barrack Street, and then to the actual monastery building in 1829.

“Both the people they prayed for and they themselves are forever caught up in the mystery of God’s everlasting and merciful love,” the plaque states, with a final paragraph in Irish paying tribute to “na Maighdine Muire, Naomh Seosamh”.